About

This blog records, in real time exactly 100 years later, the correspondence between my grandparents Miss Emma Ash and Mr William Metcalfe during the First World War. From bundles of letters found under the floorboards of their marital home long after their deaths, we are able to witness the development of the later stages of the War through the eyes of a serviceman and his sweetheart, played out alongside a growing romance.

With no consideration of literary prowess, no thought that this correspondence would be seen by others eyes (other than perhaps the military censor), an unvarnished portrait of a different age and world appears.

The majority of the letters run from May 1917 to mid-1919, though some survive from earlier in their correspondence. Most of the letters we have are from Will to Emmie, though clearly she was writing regularly in response. More biographical details about both of them will be revealed as the letters are posted.